Fork Oil Replacement

[Shelterwoods]

My 2020 R1250RS has 25,000 miles on it, with the ESA system, and the fork oil has not been changed. Have any of you changed your fork oil? The owners manual calls out for changing the oil every 18,000 miles. The local BMW dealer said that it is not necessary. I don't have the tools required for this service, so was to rely on the dealer; figured that they would welcome the business if it was a worthwhile endeavor.

 

I look forward to your response.

 

Del

[duckbubbles]

I did the forks on my 2 previous R1200RSs at around 20,000 miles each.  Removed them from the bike and took them to the local dealer (who has the tools and fluids).  Previous planning had them in and out next day.

Except for the knowledge that they had been serviced, I noticed no difference in their performance, which is good as they worked to my satisfaction before.

Do it or not, your choice.  BTW- I am an OCD type where maintenance of my machines is enjoyable.

 

Frank

[Shelterwoods]

Frank:

 

Thank you for the information. I hadn't thought to remove the forks first. Still, I was surprised that the shop wasn't gung-ho on doing the work as I thought they would like the business.

 

I can't say that I'm OCD, but I do like having the bike perform the way it should.

 

By the way, what oil do you use in your final drive? My owners manual says "SAE 70W-80 / hypoid axle G3", which is what they sold me two years ago. When I asked for final drive oil, last month, they gave me SAE 75W-90 G5. The specified oil is hard to find other than at BMW, but the other is easy to find. I'm curious what you use, especially since you are particular.

 

Del

[Oldrider51]

I just did mine on my 16 RS after watching a YouTube video. Search on YouTube R1200RS fork oil change. Not hard, tools can be found on Amazon. Tools only needed for the right hand fork not the left ESA fork. 

[Skywagon]

I’ve never changed fork oil unless I had a leaky seal. 

[MikeB60]

54 minutes ago, Skywagon said:

I’ve never changed fork oil unless I had a leaky seal. 

The RS has a traditional fork where the oil provides dampening and requires changing unlike the RT with a telelever.

[JCtx]

I'd NOT trust my local dealer to do any maintenance work, let alone changing the fork oil. They installed the freaking battery backwards when I bought it, put the mirrors crooked, lost the grommets of the battery cover, lost the positive terminal cap, and couldn't reset the maintenance warning on my dash (basically, everything they touched, they screwed up. Ha ha). So I have a genuine reason not to trust them. Anyway, I don't have the tools to do the fork oil change either, but I'd buy them if I keep the bike that long. By the way, can anybody post that video? It'd be greatly appreciated. And I think the oil viscosity was changed to 11.5W, I believe. And the amounts are 290ml L, and 682ml R, according to notes I took a while back. So want to confirm all of that, plus torque values on the video, if provided. Thank you.

[Oldrider51]

My Haynes manual indicated 304 ml for the left leg, but I only drained out a little over 200 ml. Also, the height of the oil from the top when the leg is collapsed on 65 mm could not be met with 304 or even 290 ml. This is what I observed when I changed the oil. I also saw that the weight of the oil had changed to 11.5.

[Skywagon]

7 hours ago, MikeB60 said:

The RS has a traditional fork where the oil provides dampening

Thanks Mike aware… I was referencing other bikes I’ve owned with forks. 

[9Mary7]

Good tutorial. All of his vids are excellent.

 

[Oldrider51]

Here is another video you can watch: 

 

[Shelterwoods]

Thank you for your responses; always impressed with the help I've gotten.

 

I had to laugh about JCtx experience with his dealer; it was suggested to me by my salesman to lube the grommets on the battery cover, or risk them being pulled out and lost. Sure enough, when I got the bike home from the 600 mile service, they had lost one of the grommets.

[JCtx]

6 hours ago, Oldrider51 said:

Also, the height of the oil from the top when the leg is collapsed on 65 mm could not be met with 304 or even 290 ml. This is what I observed when I changed the oil. I also saw that the weight of the oil had changed to 11.5.

So what amounts did you end up using???

 

And thank you for the videos; greatly appreciated.

[Oldrider51]

In the left leg or ESA leg I used about 210 ml. I poured in more than that then set the height of the oil at 65 mm below the top as shown in the video. The right leg I used the amount indicated of 682 ml and then set the height at 82 mm below the top. The video of the guy doing the blue/white RS never said how much he used  he only stated the height of the oil below the top, 65 mm Left/ESA leg and 82mm for the right side. Doing it this way the levels looked good when I finished.

[David13]

I did mine about 2 yeas ago, maybe 3 years ago, I have it written down. 

 

I got Liqui Moly, I think from Beemer Boneyard.  I think it was 10w.

 

I also replaced, the seals, the bushings and a cover over the top, I think.

I made a rack to hold them for work, as I didn't like the idea of putting them in a vise.

 

I used whatever recommended amounts.

dc

[JCtx]

2 hours ago, Oldrider51 said:

In the left leg or ESA leg I used about 210 ml. I poured in more than that then set the height of the oil at 65 mm below the top as shown in the video.

Thank you for your explanation. But after seeing the first video, do you think you pumped the rod enough times to remove most of the air from in there? Maybe that's why the level was higher initially... but after using the bike, it'll be low. If I end up doing this job, I'll move the rod at least 5 minutes, to purge most of the air out. Take care.

[Oldrider51]

10 minutes ago, JCtx said:

Thank you for your explanation. But after seeing the first video, do you think you pumped the rod enough times to remove most of the air from in there? Maybe that's why the level was higher initially... but after using the bike, it'll be low. If I end up doing this job, I'll move the rod at least 5 minutes, to purge most of the air out. Take care.

I pumped the rod several times to displace all the fluid then turned it upside down and let it drain for over 20 minutes while I had lunch and no more oil came out. Then when I filled the fork up I poured in the oil until it reached the top of the stanchion and then pumped the stanchion several more times and then let it sit for over 10 minutes to allow any air to escape, then I set the level at 65 mm below the top of the stanchion in the lowered position. I had poured in about 300 ml and then removed about 90 ml with a proper tool to set the oil height at 65 ml below the top of the stanchion. I hope this helps. This is what I found in doing mine while others may differ.    

[Oldrider51]

38 minutes ago, JCtx said:

Thank you for your explanation. But after seeing the first video, do you think you pumped the rod enough times to remove most of the air from in there? Maybe that's why the level was higher initially... but after using the bike, it'll be low. If I end up doing this job, I'll move the rod at least 5 minutes, to purge most of the air out. Take care.

Did some more research on this subject and find this discussion over on another forum: Fork Oil Capacity 2016 RS (rswasserboxer.com). I did not remove the internals from the fork leg so that maybe why I did not see all the oil come out although I did pump it quite a lot and left it upside down to drain for an extended period of time. I also pumped it many times after filling. I haven't ridden the bike since I did the work so I can't tell you if it is better or worse as to performance. Let me know if you don't get to this website and I will then send the long URL.

[JCtx]

Thank you very much for the extra info. You know, I'll do exactly the same. If not having problems, it makes no sense to me to mess with the forks. It's like disassembling the engine to remove 100% of the oil. Ha ha. Done frequent enough, like the brake fluid, there's no need for more than a simple drain and refill job IMO. And that's exactly what I'll eventually do myself as well. You removed about 70% of the oil, so more than enough. By the way, I'm almost sure our bikes have something like 10W oil in there, so also no need to use 11.5W IMO, especially since I don't want the suspension any stiffer. Will keep watching this thread about the oil weight issue, but just like I use the Castrol 75/90 for the final drive (vs 75/80) that my ex-RT called for, with an identical drive shaft unit, I don't think there's a problem using 10 oil on the forks. But will continue evaluating comments from the pros here. Thanks again for your great help.

[Oldrider51]

I have read that the earlier bikes like my 2016 had a lighter oil, 7.5wt, but the newer oil from BMW had been changed to the 11.5 wt. I purchased the oil from Maxbmw.com. I also purchased new Orings for the caps in case I damaged one. 

[Limecreek]

Like others have said, it is not a difficult task. The change to the heavier weight oil did make a difference in the front end compliance. 
 

A USD fork compressor makes this job much easier to do on your own. 
 

[Oldrider51]

So that is what the internals of the ESA leg look like. Thanks for the picture. Didn't take mine out, but did the right. The gasket rings for the fork internal bolt is not cheap at $9.73 each. What tool did you use to compress the right leg fork spring? I found my compressing my spring enough to slide the spacer between the upper spacer and the nut at the top of the rod a little difficult. 

[JCtx]

So when did the oil weight change from 7.5W to 11.5W take place? Does anybody know? Wonder what my  2020 ESA (build date 06/19) has from the factory. Does anybody know for certain?

And I've never seen the internals laid out like that. The electronic one has to be that big left unit, right? But don't see any wires. And the right one doesn't seem to have anything other than the spring; weird. I expected rebound on one side, and compression on the other, but apparently everything is on the left (electronic) side. Although what's actually adjustable is anybody's guess. Thank you for those pictures.

 

EDIT: To just change the fork oil, do you need a spring compressor? Hopefully not. Thank you.

[Oldrider51]

58 minutes ago, JCtx said:

So when did the oil weight change from 7.5W to 11.5W take place? Does anybody know? Wonder what my  2020 ESA (build date 06/19) has from the factory. Does anybody know for certain?

And I've never seen the internals laid out like that. The electronic one has to be that big left unit, right? But don't see any wires. And the right one doesn't seem to have anything other than the spring; weird. I expected rebound on one side, and compression on the other, but apparently everything is on the left (electronic) side. Although what's actually adjustable is anybody's guess. Thank you for those pictures.

wt. 

EDIT: To just change the fork oil, do you need a spring compressor? Hopefully not. Thank you.

By Bobs BMW the BMW fork oil, p/n 83 19 2 460 735, changed from a 7.5wt to 11.5wt in 2019, but doesn't give an exact date. This is what I purchased for my change. I would guess that your 2020 has the 11.5. The internals you see on the table are for the left or ESA leg. The wiring can be seen at the back edge of the table. The parts between the two fork legs I believe are for the right non-ESA leg.  BMW Fork Oil - Type 2 - SAE 11.5W Bob's Motorcycles (bobsmotorcycles.com)

 

If you only pour back in the amount required for the right leg and don't want to check the air gap then it is possible to pour out the oil and refill, but I do not know if you will get out all of the over 650 ml for this leg as you will not be able to pump the internal rod. Maybe leaving the fork inverted for an extended period might do it, but I would want to measure what is drained to be sure. The tools can be had from Amazon for not too much, I believe for less than $30. 

 

[Limecreek]

On 11/30/2023 at 8:27 AM, Oldrider51 said:

So that is what the internals of the ESA leg look like. Thanks for the picture. Didn't take mine out, but did the right. The gasket rings for the fork internal bolt is not cheap at $9.73 each. What tool did you use to compress the right leg fork spring? I found my compressing my spring enough to slide the spacer between the upper spacer and the nut at the top of the rod a little difficult. 

I used the Race Tech compressor.  I hung both legs upside down overnight to allow all the oil to drain out.  Getting all the bubbles out and setting the air gap is what you really want to focus on. 

[Limecreek]

On 11/30/2023 at 11:58 AM, JCtx said:

So when did the oil weight change from 7.5W to 11.5W take place? Does anybody know? Wonder what my  2020 ESA (build date 06/19) has from the factory. Does anybody know for certain?

And I've never seen the internals laid out like that. The electronic one has to be that big left unit, right? But don't see any wires. And the right one doesn't seem to have anything other than the spring; weird. I expected rebound on one side, and compression on the other, but apparently everything is on the left (electronic) side. Although what's actually adjustable is anybody's guess. Thank you for those pictures.

 

EDIT: To just change the fork oil, do you need a spring compressor? Hopefully not. Thank you.

In this picture I was replacing the BMW unit with a new cartridge and new fork seals.  You can see the wire in the BMW unit exiting the top of the cartridge in the picture above. 

 

 

[JCtx]

5 hours ago, Limecreek said:

You can see the wire in the BMW unit exiting the top of the cartridge in the picture above.

The wire is cutoff from your picture, but I believe you. May I ask which cartridge did you go with instead, and why you decided to eliminate ESA? Just curious. And the right fork doesn't seem to have any damping of any kind, right? But since you didn't show the right leg, maybe it has other components. Thank you.

[Oldrider51]

1 hour ago, JCtx said:

The wire is cutoff from your picture, but I believe you. May I ask which cartridge did you go with instead, and why you decided to eliminate ESA? Just curious. And the right fork doesn't seem to have any damping of any kind, right? But since you didn't show the right leg, maybe it has other components. Thank you.

Limecreek has two pictures of his front forks. Look above the last picture to see the first one. The first picture I am sure is showing the internals of the ESA fork and the second picture is of the right non-ESA fork. The reason I am pretty sure about this is that I removed the internals from my right leg and the second picture is what they looked like. The first picture shows the ESA leg and you can see the electrical cord going out the top. 

 

Good question as to why he replaced the internals and what did he use.

[Limecreek]

On 12/2/2023 at 12:36 PM, JCtx said:

The wire is cutoff from your picture, but I believe you. May I ask which cartridge did you go with instead, and why you decided to eliminate ESA? Just curious. And the right fork doesn't seem to have any damping of any kind, right? But since you didn't show the right leg, maybe it has other components. Thank you.

I replaced the ESA with a Tractive cartridge that retained the riding modes and interfaced with the BMW system.  The ESA cartridge failed.  And I replaced the rear ESA with a Wilber strut for better compliance and control. 

[Oldrider51]

Does the Wilber rear shock have the ESA components for spring pre-load and damping? 

[c10]

18,000 miles due to viscosity change . Think oil has reached the end of its life .  It may still look decent in a glass but testing it to new oil will show the change . 

Its concerning the dealer said not needed .  

[Limecreek]

13 hours ago, Oldrider51 said:

Does the Wilber rear shock have the ESA components for spring pre-load and damping? 

Preload and damping adjustments are done manually. 

[Oldrider51]

So, just to clear, you did away with the ESA on the rear shock but have it with the front left fork?

[Limecreek]

Correct. I would have done away with it on both ends but that was not an option. 

[Oldrider51]

Why and do you get an error about the ESA because the rear shock is not connected? Interesting.

[Limecreek]

10 hours ago, Oldrider51 said:

Why and do you get an error about the ESA because the rear shock is not connected? Interesting.

I used the TOURATECH widget to trick the ECU, thus no errors. 

 

[Oldrider51]

Similar to what I did when I changed the exhaust system and eliminated the flapper valve by installing the Servo Buddy. When I change I will probably stay with the ESA and I am not gifted enough to make the necessary suspension changes. Cheers.